The Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau and the Council of Agriculture’s Forestry Bureau on Tuesday signed an agreement to establish a DNA database of protected trees in mountainous areas to crack down on illegal logging activities.
“This agreement is part of the Investigation Bureau’s crime fighting program for National Land Conservation, which includes protecting preserved forests, cracking down on illegal mining and excavation, and other criminal activities that damage the environment,” Investigation Bureau Director-General Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said.
The Investigation Bureau and the Forestry Bureau are to establish a DNA database of Taiwan cypress and Taiwan cedar that “will enable us to make fast identification of suspected protected timber and document materials believed to have been illegally logged for prosecutors,” Tsai said.
“More than 2,000 cases of illegal logging in mountain areas have been investigated by law enforcement agencies in the past five years. More than 5,900m3 of timber from protected trees worth about NT$1.78 billion (US$58.65 million) has been illegally harvested in that time,” Forestry Bureau Director Lin Hua-ching (林華慶) said.
Illegal logging of preserved forests has caused extensive damage to the environment, including alpine ecology, water and soil conservation, and has caused the destruction of tourism resources and the function of forests in mitigating the effects of climate change, Lin said.
As part of the collaboration teams from the Forestry Bureau are to collect tree samples from mountain areas, focusing on Taiwan cypress and Taiwan cedar, which are protected under the Forestry Act (森林法), officials said.
“The tree samples would be analyzed using new molecular techniques to pinpoint their characteristic genetic markers and catalogued in a DNA database. The database would identify the DNA markers which show which trees come from a particular area. It would enable authorities to determine the origin of suspected illegally logged timber and boost conviction rates,” Tsai said.
“Prosecution was successful in about 1,500 of more than 2,000 illegal logging cases in the past five years, with about 3,400 people convicted,” Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said.
“However, there were a few hundred cases in which the charges were dropped and most of these were due to problems identifying the timber,” he said.
“When I was younger I wanted to work protecting the mountain forests, but found out rangers have a tough job, that they have to patrol a large area and their lives are threatened by illegal logging operators, so I gave up on that idea,” Chiu said of his aspiration to become a forest ranger.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
PAWSITIVE IMPACT: A shop owner said that while he adopted cats to take care of rodents, they have also attracted younger visitors who also buy his dried goods In Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕), cats lounging in shops along Dihua Street do more than nap amid the scent of dried seafood. Many have become beloved fixtures who double as photography models, attracting visitors and helping boost sales in one of the capital’s most historic quarters. A recent photo contest featuring more than a dozen shop cats drew more than 2,200 submissions, turning everyday cat-spotting into a friendly competition that attracted amateur and professional photographers. “It’s rare to see cats standing, so when it suddenly did, it felt like a lucky cat,” said Sabrina Hsu (徐淳蔚), who won the NT$10,000 top prize in
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS